Tariq Simons clinched the first spot in the Manders Tennis Management Masters Invitational Tournament final last night at the Fairmont Southampton, beating Benjamin Jones, the fourth seed, 6-2, 7-6.

Simons, the top seed, was heading for what looked to be a comfortable victory after winning the first game of the second set before rain stopped play for about 45 minutes.

Simons, 19, kept his focus when the players returned, taking a 5-0 lead as he headed towards victory, only to see Jones extend the match by winning six games in a row to lead 6-5 before Simons won the tiebreak and the match.

“I’m always excited for a win, I haven’t choked a whole lot like that in my young career, but it was good experience for me either way,” said Simons, who admitted being the No 1 seed came with added pressure. “The fact is I’ll only get better at handling it in the future. I have had bad experiences with similar situations a few times before. I got a little complacent.

“He played well, which made it more difficult to pull off the win. I had to push myself to pull it off.”

Simons will face the winner of the second semi-final between Trey Mallory and Gavin Manders.